Apple RAIDs the enterprise

Not so many years ago, anyone taking Apple seriously in the world of enterprise computing was a subject of mockery. But Apple continues to make headway in its drive to reinvent itself as a serious enterprise computing player. Building on the enthusiastic reception by analysts and users alike of its original Xserve rack-mounted server, the desktop computing pioneer has expanded its high-end offerings to include a clustered server configuration, a 2.5TB 3U RAID array, and a second-generation Xserve that features faster CPUs and enhancements to the cooling systems.

After my look at the new Xserve, and the Xserve RAID, I'm more convinced than ever that Apple's server hardware stands up with anyone else's, and not just because its appearance is so striking. Apple has done a very good job of demonstrating how to take what everyone else takes as a commodity -- a Unix-like OS -- add an interface that even neophytes can cope with, and package it with a solid hardware offering.

The only question a CTO considering Xserve should be asking is: Whether to buy now or wait for a PowerPC G5 variant? Rumors claim "end of this year" is the timeframe for a G5, which might be a stretch, given the challenges involved in keeping two G5 CPUs below melting temperature in a case smaller than 3U. (The G5 case photo that I found on a Google search turned out to be a parody, featuring a Sub-Zero brand freezer.) In the absence of any official road map for the next generation of Xserve, if you're thinking about buying them now, you probably should, at least until the rumored quad-processor beast ships.

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The argument for the current Xserve model is fairly straightforward: it's a compact 1U package with an OS that's more manageable out of the box than a Linux system and less expensive than Windows, and it makes even the drabbest server room look cutting-edge. Improvements over the original version include faster G4 processors running at 1.33GHz, enhanced cooling systems that take advantage of the G4's load-based power consumption, some less-elaborate cooling improvements including more holes in the front of the case, and more efficient hexagonal holes in the rear. A new optical drive features a slot-load mechanism instead of the original Xserve's tray-load drive. The introduction of Apple's first serious mass-storage system in the Xserve RAID gives users the ability to address up to 2.5TB of data as a single system that's easily managed and neatly integrated with the OS.

Radical RAID